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On April 20, 1853 —
three weeks after they were married — 27-year-old Lars Anderson
and 22-year-old Grethe (Paulson) Anderson left Christiana, Norway
(now Oslo). They sailed to America accompanied by Lars’ younger
brother Jens. At the time, Norway
was a land of very little opportunity. More than a million people
lived in Norway and three-quarters of them were trying to make a
living from the land, less than 5 percent of which was tillable.
There was virtually no land left to homestead, and much of the land
that might be inherited was mortgaged beyond any young family’s
ability to pay. Many couples starting out studied immigrant guidebooks
like Ole Rynning’s True Account of America. The Andersons spent seven weeks at sea. Under the best circumstances the trip was miserable. Overcrowding was severe, and seasickness was universal. On voyages like theirs, typhoid, dysentary and measels claimed scores of lives. But on June 7, Lars, Grethe and Jens arrived safely in New York, three of more than 6,000 Norwegians who reached the ports of New York and Quebec in 1853 alone. |